In partial answer to my question about the whereabouts of the Arab street, and the significance of the non-barking of this dog, Tamir Moustafa of University of Wisconsin-Madison has an excellent essay for Middle East Report Online (not, ironically enough, online yet but should be soon; go here to sign up for this exceptionally useful email list). Moustafa, who recently returned from Cairo, writes that "The week marking the first anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq saw a flurry of demonstrations across Egypt. A protest in central Cairo marking the beginning of the war was followed by a series of demonstrations at al-Azhar and other major universities, as well as the lawyers' and journalists' syndicates, upon the Israeli assassination of Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin just three days later. While none of the protests matched the magnitude of those that rocked the Egyptian capital in March 2003, the constant recurrence of public demonstrations over the past year reveals much about how regional crises continue to exacerbate domestic economic and political tensions."
Moustafa gives a nice description of the March 20 protest, which quickly morphed from an Iraq protest into a more general - and to the regime, far more dangerous - protest against the Mubarak government: "On the morning of March 20, as they had the previous year, central security forces marched into downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square, making it once again resemble an army barracks. The estimated 5,000 security personnel easily contained the 2,000 demonstrators assembled, but the enormous security presence did not deter protesters from publicly indicting the government in a way that was unimaginable only two years ago. In the shadow of the massive government building in the square, Nasserists, Islamists, leftists and liberals condemned the US occupation of Iraq and bitterly criticized the inaction and impotence of Arab governments. A coffin carried through the crowd bore the epitaph, "Here lies the Arab League," and demonstrators cried out: "What is happening now in Iraq will happen tomorrow in Cairo!"
"But the demonstration turned quickly to expressions of outrage at Egypt's economic woes, illustrating deep-seated contempt for the government. Citing price increases that have rendered staples like beans expensive and turned meat into an unattainable luxury for many Egyptians, the crowd aimed its anger directly at Prime Minister Atef Ebeid. "Atef, a kilo of beans now costs six pounds! Atef, a kilo of meat is over thirty pounds! Atef, the people of Egypt [are forced to] eat bricks!" Protest leaders underlined the staggering economic disparity between rich and poor by calling out to the crowd, "They wear the latest fashions!" To which the crowd responded, "And we live ten to a room!" .... Protest leaders and demonstrators repeated again and again, "Corruption, corruption is filling the country -- skyrocketing corruption! Where is justice? Justice is dead." Toward the end of the day, protesters were even so bold as to challenge the regime with the kind of words which, only two years ago, no one would have dared to utter in public. "Say to Mubarak, say to Sorour, when will you get the hell out of here?" demanded the crowd of President Husni Mubarak and Ahmed Fathi Sorour, speaker of the People's Assembly. "Down, down with Mubarak!" The chorus continued, "We want a free government, we want to build a new country, we want to live a happy life!""
This is exactly the kind of frustration tapped and in many cases driven by the Arab media - not a pro-American wave sparked by the Iraq war but a desperate, furious demand for reform and change from within. Moustafa writes: "Satellite television has broken state information monopolies, and the dishes dotting the Cairo skyline beam in the latest scenes of US military patrols in Falluja and Israeli incursions into Gaza and the West Bank. Demonstrations in support of Palestinian and Iraqi independence have become regular occurrences. Although the Egyptian government still hems in demonstrations with an overwhelming security presence, the mere fact that protests are tacitly permitted outside the gates of university campuses marks a qualitative shift in Egyptian political life."
The inaction of Arab governments towards Iraq or Israel is taken as a symbol of their incompetence and corruption, and the same protestors demanding internal reform are the most vigorous in denouncing American foreign policy in the region. Again, a nicely textured bit from Moustafa: "Spontaneous demonstrations following Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's assassination attracted some 50,000 protesters nationwide and illustrated once again the extent to which Egyptians are moved by events in Palestine, as well as the extent to which events in both Palestine and Iraq put the Egyptian state and activists on a collision course. Signs of increased political consciousness due to regional tensions can be heard daily blaring from storefronts and passing microbuses. Pop singer Shaaban Abd al-Rahim's latest hits, "Road Map" and "Striking Iraq," blast the US for its policies toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for launching the 2003 invasion [Aardvark's note: Shaaban Abd al Rahim is a lousy singer. For him to be popular, things must really be bad]. These tunes unfortunately appeal to the frighteningly popular conspiracy theory in Egypt that the US government itself may have been responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001, in order to justify domination of the Arab world. But Shaaban is also critical of the incompetence of Arab leaders, a noticeable shift from an earlier song with lyrics praising Mubarak and former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. The collapse of the Arab League summit even before its scheduled opening on March 28 makes Shaaban's line, "I wish for once one of our conferences would be a success," resonate in Egyptian ears. A similar lament of Arab impotence, coupled with stinging criticism of US foreign policy, can be found in a long-running play at the Cairo Opera House, "Messing with the Mind." Without question, the regional political situation has seriously undermined government credibility in the eyes of Egyptians from many walks of life, not simply those in intellectual circles."
There's a lot more good stuff in Moustafa's article, which should be up on the MERIP site soon. I suppose that Moustafa's answer to my question about the street, then, would be that there has been a lot of activity, only in different places than we usually expect to see it; and that the protest activity has been increasingly blending across issue lines so that the Iraq protests can't be distinguished from the Palestine protests or the economic protests. And, I would emphasize again, this is very dangerous for Arab governments - particularly those who have tried to externalize popular anger by directing popular outrage abroad instead of within. Bad for Arab governments, not great for American foreign policy as currently conducted, but potentially very good for the prospects of real, internally driven political reform.
Comments